


Crashing With The Boys

by Dotdotbeepdot



Series: My Storyline [12]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Animal Death, Bing trying to be a good bro, Blood and Gore, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, will add more as I go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:41:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dotdotbeepdot/pseuds/Dotdotbeepdot
Summary: Takes place right after CHASE, Chase needs a place to stay for awhile and calls Bing up.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: My Storyline [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1567675
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me adding the Septics into my storyline. I don't watch Jacksepticeye or keep up with his egos so these are *very* ooc probably. But I have some fun stories of the Septics so I might as well start writing them into here. My stuff will still be Iplier centric tho because... that's the only ones I care about.
> 
> This is also based off a request on my blog bingiplierdaily.

Bing jumped as he got an incoming call from Chase during dinner. Some of the others jumped too and looked at him weirdly. Bing excused himself and went into the kitchen to answer his call, giving Google a short smile. 

“Hey man, what’s up?” he mouthed ‘Chase’ to Google. He hopped up to sit on the counter next to him and waited for a reply.

_ “Hey…”  _ Chase sounded both tired and confused. Bing furrowed his eyebrows and shifted.  _ “Can you… can I crash at your place for a while? I… kinda got evicted.” _

“What? Oh, dude I’m so sorry, uh,” Bing looked over at Google. He was looking at him in concern too. “I’ll, uh, I’ll ask? I’m sure they’ll let you, man.”

_ “Thanks. And uh, can you pick me up? I kinda… drank a little and lost my car.”  _ Shit. Bing winced.

“Yeah man, no problem,” Chase gave him the street he was on and hung up. Bing sighed and laughed. He hopped off the counter and turned to Google. “Can’t help you with dishes tonight, sorry. Chase got evicted today and needs me to pick him up. Oh, and could you ask Dark if Chase can crash here for a bit? You’re the man, Googs, brb.”

Before Google could even respond, Bing was grabbing the SUV’s keys from the bowl and headed out of the manor. He waved at the others still eating. “I’ll be back in a sec, dudes.”

Chase wasn’t that far away, but he was still in another part of LA. Bing huffed in annoyance at the traffic. This was taking fucking forever. After 15 minutes, it finally started to move and Bing could get to his destination. 

Which was… outside a parking garage?

He shrugged and called Chase. “Hey man, I’m outside in the SUV. Why are you here?”

_ “Hell if I know,”  _ Chase said.  _ “I probably drank too much, I dunno.” _

“Alright… Well! I’m just outside so― oh, hey I see you!” Bing hung up and hauled his body out the window and sat on the door. He smiled and waved Chase over. His friend saw him and started over towards the car. Bing slid back into the car as Chase opened the passenger seat and sat down. “Sup dude! Okay, so do you need to get anything from your apartment?”

“No, it’s fine. We can get it tomorrow when we get my car.” Chase mumbled, slouching in his seat.

Bing nodded. “Alright, that’s cool. You can just use my bed and clothes for now. I don’t really use them anyways.”

He started the car again― after waiting awkwardly for Chase to put on his seatbelt― and made their way back to the manor. Once Bing had parked the car, he hopped out and patiently waited for Chase to drag himself out. He led him towards the doors and opened it.

Bing almost collided right into Dark.

“Shit, sorry dude.” Bing took a step back, crashing back into Chase who stumbled back. Dark just looked between them, eyes settling on Chase.

“You reek of alcohol,” they deadpanned, narrowing their eyes at Chase. “Are you drunk.”

Chase shrugged. “Yeah.”

“And do you have any on you?”

He looked down at himself feeling his pockets before pulling out a small bottle from his jeans. Damn it.

“Nice meeting you, Chase.” Dark shut the door on them.

Bing pouted. “Oh, come on! He doesn’t have anywhere to go!”

"I never stood a chance, did I?" Chase scoffed, still not really caring. Bing was still facing the closed doors of the manor. His core made a quiet trill sound and he looked back over his shoulder.

“No, no, they’ll… they’d have to let us in…” he turned back around and knocked. “Dark? Bim? Come on guys, just let him stay for a while! He can just throw away that!”

With no answer, Bing whined. He stomped his foot lightly and spun back around to Chase. He tried to smile. “Okay, so they’re not gonna let us in, dude. But that’s okay!” He bounced back to his positive programming and laughed nervously. “King has a cabin somewhere in the forest. You can stay there for a bit while we find you a new place! Or I can convince Dark to let you in. They’re really stingy with the whole alcohol thing.”

“Whatever,” Chase stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. “Lead the way.”

Bing smiled despite the suffocating worry for his friend filling his head. He took Chase’s wrist and pulled him towards the forest once again. Chase tripped over a couple of roots and rocks, but Bing always stopped and made sure he was okay before continuing. Each time his friend only mumbled that he was fine. 

Chase was never the best after his divorce, but it only seems to be getting worse.

Finally, Bing stopped at the cabin, his smile almost hurting his cheeks with how forced it was. 

“Come on, you can uh,” Bing stopped short when they got inside, core humming loudly and face orange. “Well, just… the bed should be clean enough. We don’t use the mattress as much as the bedding.”

“That’s so gross, man.” Chase was looking at the giant pile of pillows, blankets, and squirrels in the middle of the cabin. Bing’s face only seemed to glow brighter and he led him around the nest. 

“Shut up. You try having a boyfriend that’s practically a wild animal,” he opened the bedroom door and started looking for a blanket and some pillows that King hasn’t stolen. He found some in the closet, though blood stained and dusty. He threw them on the bed anyways. “Here. Those are the only one’s King and I haven’t used.”

“Why are they blood stained?” Chase asked, lifting up an end of the blanket and grimacing at it. Bing shrugged.

“I dunno. I think whoever lived here before was like, some serial killer,” Bing said nonchalantly, but Chase looked rather disturbed. Bing laughed. “Hey, at least we cleaned up the little kitchenette. That was covered in bloody tools and shit.”

“You’re lucky I don’t care about my life or else I would be really freaked out sleeping here.” Chase dropped onto the bed without taking off his shoes or even his hat. Bing frowned.

“Chase… should I be worried?” Bing was serious now. His friend looked up at him. “I mean, I know I wasn’t there for the… thing… and I just don’t want you to try anything like that again. Especially now.”

Chase sighed through his nose. “No… I’m not gonna do anything, Bing. I barely have enough energy to get up right now, I’m not gonna try and find a gun or knife to kill myself with.”

Bing winced at how easily he could talk about this, but nodded. “Okay, good. ‘Cause I know how to put someone on suicide watch. I’ve done it to Host before and I’ll do it to you.”

Chase nodded, but didn’t respond. Just turned over in the bed and threw the blanket on top of him. Bing stared at him for a moment, waiting until he had fallen asleep before taking off his hat and shoes. He placed the hat on the nightstand― that was just a box of unpacked items covered in dust― and his shoes next to it. He stopped to rub Chase’s back, watching his face for a response.

He somehow still looked tired in his sleep.

Bing sighed, making his way out of the bedroom. He walked around the cabin, looking and taking anything Chase could use to hurt himself. Turns out, there were more weapons and even a noose hiding in the cabin. Jesus, maybe this place was a bad place to put Chase. By the time he left, his arms were filled with everything that could be used to hurt yourself.

He’ll have to ask King who the fuck lived there before later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bing heads to the cabin the next day to see how Chase is doing and is met with a... not so fun surprise.

Bing dinged awake and quickly got to check up on Chase.

Only to be pulled down to the ground with a very undignified shout by a weight around his waist. Looking down at his waist, he was pleasantly surprised by a grumpy King holding tightly to his sides and giving the sharpest glare at Bing.

“Well, good morning, Nutterbutter,” he cooed to his boyfriend, laughing halfway through it because his patronizing voice only seemed to make him angrier. “When did you like, get in bed with me?”

“When you got home,” King mumbled, wiping drool from his mouth on Bing’s shirt. “We didn’t even cuddle.”

“I’m sorry, babe,” Bing awed and hauled King up his body and wrapped him in a hug. “I had to pick up Chase. He’s hanging out in your cabin for a bit. You can come with me today to see him. He’s gonna have a  _ killer  _ hangover, but if I can convince him to throw out any alcohol he’s got, he can stay in the manor.”

King chittered something under his breath and dropped his arms, letting Bing alone keep himself up. Bing adjusted his grip and carried King out of his room to the kitchen. He smiled and nodded towards Google and Dr. Iplier as they got ready for the morning. Bing smiled wider when he saw Host sitting at the counter and rounded on him.

“Ah, good, Host. Can you hold this for me?” 

“Bing, wait―”

Bing dropped King into the Host’s lap as he tried to stutter out a no. Thankfully, Host quickly held on to King so he didn’t topple to the ground, so Bing didn’t have to worry about dropping a man with little care for his body when he’s sleepy into a blind man’s lap. Host just sighed and tucked King into his chest.

Laughing slightly, he got food together for Chase. “Hey Doc? You wanna come with me and King―” King grunted and curled up tighter in Host’s lap. “Or uh, you wanna come with me and only me to check Chase over? He said he’s fine, but he was really chill about like, talking about hurting himself earlier. I just wanna be extra cautious, ya know?”

Dr. Iplier nodded. “Yeah, sure. Why didn’t Dark let him stay?”

“He was drunk and still had some like, scotch or something in his pocket so Dark wouldn’t let him in,” Bing stuffed some frozen waffles into their shitty toaster and leaned his elbows on the counter. “I’mma try and convince them later. If I can convince Chase to throw out his scotch that is.”

“He can give it to me,” Dr. Iplier jokes, laughing when Google sent him a glare and Host gave his own sightless glare. “Kidding, God. I don’t want to lose my housing, job, friends,  _ and  _ partner for someone else’s problems.”

Bing rolled his eyes and Host huffed. “The Host does not find the joke funny. He is destined to stay sober and risking or joking about that could cause a massive change to everyone’s lives.”

“Yeah, and also Dark isn’t a pussy,” Bing snatched the waffles as they popped out of the toaster and grabbed butter and syrup. “They’ll roast you on a spit and toss you to Bim with jokes like that, dude.”

Dr. Iplier gave him a point and smirked. “You got me there,” knocking back the rest of his coffee, he placed the mug in Google’s hand— ducking away from the murderous glare he was given— and walking out of the kitchen. “I’ll meet you by the door.”

“Aight, dudes,” he grabbed a Monster from the fridge and tried to balance all the items in one hand. He walked around the island and grabbed King by the back of his neck to kiss him. “I’ll be back later. You sure you don’t wanna come with, babe?”

King hummed and shook his head. Bing was going to give him another kiss, but Host put his hand on his face and pushed him away. 

“The Host begs Bing not to do  _ that _ while in such close proximity to his face.” He scowls in disgust that King decided to test that and kissed the Host’s cheek. Host gags and pushes King away too. 

“You two have a good time without me,” laughing, Bing ruffled King’s hair. “Just make sure you use protection.” 

Host gagged again.

The walk to the cabin was calming. Despite Bing’s worry, he was happy that Chase had called him instead of getting into more trouble. Dr. Iplier was quiet too, taking in the forest and the breezy weather. Bing can’t remember a time where Doc looked so relaxed― as relaxed as he could be with all that tension in his shoulders. Probably because there hasn’t been a lot of threats lately.

God, he hopes Chase being here for a bit won’t cause any problems.

“I haven’t been here in years,” Dr. Iplier said once the cabin was in sight. Bing looked at him in surprise. “This used to be Host’s place. I think the last time I came here was when Host handed it over to King.”

“Really?” Bing pushed up his glasses and squinted at Dr. Iplier. Then, his face dropped and he laughed nervously. “He’s like, uh, okay with me and King using it right?”

Dr. Iplier laughed. He stepped over some of the ivy that cracked through the stone way up to the door. “He’s fine with it. He gave it to King so he wouldn’t freeze to death in the winter and you’re probably keeping him nice and warm for him.”

“Shut up man,” Bing grumbled under his breath, but he was still smiling as he shoved Doc out of the way of the door. He opened it and walked carelessly inside. “Chase! Hey, I’m back! I brought―”

Bing stopped hard in his tracks, unmoving even when Dr. Iplier bumped into his back. It looked like someone had just thrown roadkill everywhere. There was blood and guts to fill a bathtub. There was only one body, however.

“Jesus Christ,” Dr. Iplier swore as he saw the squirrel, gutted and nailed by it’s arms and legs to the far wall, head hanging on a thread with a slit in its throat. He searched Bing’s face to see if he wasn’t the only one seeing this and when he saw the same look, he swore. “No fucking way all this is just that squirrel’s blood.”

“It’s not,” Bing confirmed, looking sick even if he couldn’t actually get sick. “Fuck, there was a lot of squirrels in here before. Shit, fuck, what the shit happened?”

“Bing?” Both of them jerked their heads to the hallway. Chase was standing in the mouth of it, looking tired and confused, not a drop of blood on him. He noticed the scene, however, and his confusion quickly changed to horror. “Fuck, man. What the hell happened?”

“Did something happen last night?” Bing asked. He hurried over to Chase, suddenly worried that he got hurt too. He couldn’t find any sign of Chase being hurt, but that didn’t stop his core from whining. “Did someone break in? Or like… bro, did you do this?”

“What? Hell no,” Chase looked around at the scene again. An unsure look passed over his face, but he quickly shook his head. “No. No, hey! I didn’t do this! I was black out drunk last night, I slept like a bear.”

That didn’t comfort Bing’s anxious core at all. He looked around one more time before waving it off, shutting his eyes. God, this was going to be a nightmare to tell King. “Okay, okay, just…” He searched his mind blindly to find the right words for what to do next. He took a deep breath, cooling down his over heating systems. “Okay, let’s just go to the manor. I’ll clean this up later, but if this is a warning or threat to you Chase, then you probably shouldn’t stay here.”

Chase nodded, moving closer to Bing. Bing took his arm and gave a very fake smile towards Dr. Iplier. They all left without another word, the quiet forest felt too quiet now and what was once a relaxing walk through the trees was tense. Bing felt like he wanted to laugh for jinxing the situation earlier. 

This was great! Chase  _ was actually  _ in danger, someone was killing King’s squirrels (they didn’t even know how many have been killed and like  _ hell  _ Bing’s going to show King the one body they have), and Chase didn’t hear  _ anything  _ last night. It was even concerning that Chase couldn’t remember anything from last night. And Bing has a bad feeling that it was more than him just being really drunk.

When they got to the manor, Bing didn’t think twice about Dark’s rules and pushed open the doors. Turning to Dr. Iplier, he smiled in what he hoped was calmer than he felt. 

“Hey, Doc? Can you like, get your clinic ready?” Dr. Iplier nodded and patted Chase on his back as he left.

“I’m fine, man,” Chase insisted. “I’m not hurt at all.”

“No offence, bro, but I don’t believe you,” Bing pushed his friend to where Dr. Iplier had left. “Now go get checked up. I need to tell King what happened.”

Chase winced sympathetically. “Good luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ignoring the fact it's been months, I've literally forgotten about this story.
> 
> BUT DON'T WORRY!! I have this chapter and I'm gonna write another one today to post because I feel extra bad. Plus, I still have a little writer's block so I can work on this story to try and get inspiration again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase gets a checkup

Chase kind of hated coming to Bing’s place. Not only was it a reminder that Bing lived in a  _ fucking mansion  _ while Chase could barely keep an apartment, but also the house was so big that he got lost so easily. It was like no matter how many turns he took, he always somehow ended up outside on the second floor. 

How, he has no idea. He can’t even remember going up any stairs.

By some miracle, he found the clinic. It was probably helpful that it had a plaque on it that read clinic, but nonetheless, Chase found the clinic.

Dr. Iplier was inside writing down something on a clipboard, a pair of glasses that weren’t there before were sitting on his nose. He was mumbling to himself too, like he was talking to someone. He looked up when the door closed and gave a brief smile. 

“Hi there,” he cleared his throat and took off his glasses, hanging them off his shirt collar. “Come sit down on one of the beds. I’m just making a file for you for the future.”

Chase nodded and walked past the doctor to hop up onto the bed behind him. He stared down at his dirty black socks. He didn’t get a chance to put on his shoes before being forced out of the cabin, nor his hat. If he weren’t still numb (and a little drunk if he’s being honest) he probably would have felt all the twigs and rocks he was stepping on. He felt awfully small without his hat and boots. 

“So, Chase,” Chase looked up. Dr. Iplier was focused on his clipboard again. “First things first, what’s your full name?”

“Chase Brody.”

“Any surgeries or medical histories I should know about?”

Chase hesitated for a moment. He should be honest, this was important and serious. And he was a  _ doctor.  _ This is stuff you tell doctors.

“Yeah,” he cleared his throat so he didn’t sound so wobbly and quiet. “Yeah. I had surgery on my head a while ago, like… three years ago. I had a few extra surgeries from that too, if that counts.” As an afterthought, he added. “I broke my leg when I was 14.”

Dr. Iplier laughed softly. “Okay. Good to know,” he wrote all that down before continuing. “Do you take any prescribed or non-prescribed medicine?”

“No.”

“Any allergies?”

“Nope.”

“I know about the drinking, but any other substance use? Drugs? Smoking?”

“I have a cigarette every now and again.” He knows this is pretty standard for a checkup, but the sad honesty of every word was making him ashamed.

“Okay,” Thankfully, Dr. Iplier seemed to be finishing up. “I know this might seem unnecessary, considering you're not going to be staying here long, but I like to have a file just in case. Let me just check you out now; can you tell me what you did the past few days?”

“No,” Chase huffed, like he found this funny. It was kind of funny in a messed up kind of way. “I uh, I don’t really remember what I did.”

“Try.” Dr. Iplier put down the clipboard and walked off to one of the cabinets that was pushed against the wall. He was oddly intimidating like this. 

“Alright uh,” Chase struggled to think of what he possibly was doing the past two days. “I was, uh, I was out of the house for something. I don’t remember what, but I wasn’t home. I go home and I see that I was evicted so I leave.”

“You didn’t grab any of your stuff?” Dr. Iplier interrupted. He had come back over while Chase was recalling and was holding a stethoscope. Chase subconsciously straightens up.

“No, I just left,” he said. Waiting for the doctor to finish his task before continuing (“I need you to breath in for me”), Chase couldn’t help but feel concerned that he didn’t do that. “Then uh, then I went back to my car and there was this guy in there with me―”

“You didn’t know them?”

“Who?”

“The guy that was in your car with you?”

Chase stared at him strangely. “What are you talking about? When did I say there was someone in the car with me?” Dr. Iplier didn’t respond, just nodded and told him to continue. Chase was a little hesitant to, but he did. Slowly and carefully. “Anyways, I got into my car and uh, this point gets really fuzzy for me.”

“That’s fine, I think I got enough information,” Dr. Iplier moved away from him and grabbed his clipboard again. He wrote down a few things before talking again. “Do you remember drinking during all this?”

“No, I only started drinking when I got to the forest.” 

“What forest?” the doctor looked up at him then, face uncomfortably serious. Chase was confused, swallowing.

“Forest?” He asked. Shit, was this the same thing with the guy in his car? Was he just saying shit that didn’t make sense or was he forgetting it as soon as he said it? “Fuck, I don’t remember any forest. I don’t think I’ve ever been that drunk.”

“I don’t think this is normal alcohol induced memory loss,” Chase shifted, anxious and on edge. “I’m not sure what else it could be― it’s still too soon to say― but you are forgetting things that you say immediately after saying them and that’s not very common for a hangover. Knowing the world we live in, you might pissed off something or someone more powerful than you and they are slowly hunting you down or trying to ruin your life. My guess is hunting you down because of the brutal squirrel murder from this morning.”

Chase was frozen. Holy shit, did he piss off some higher power? Like a god or something? Did he fucking piss off God and that’s why his life is very quickly falling a part? Fuck, fuck, this isn’t good fuck.

Did he just invite whatever is threatening him to these peoples’ home?

“Shit,” he swore, hands going up to his hair, once again feeling very vulnerable and small without his hat.  _ “Shit,  _ man. Did I just fucking sign you’re lives over because of some bullshit I don’t even know about?”

“Possibly,” Dr. Iplier said, seeming not as worried as he should be. “But we have quite a few powerful beings here too. I’m not worried about another one trying to kill us.”

Chase really wanted to be mad at the doctor for being so okay with this, but he was, in a way, right. They had androids, criminals, whatever Dark and Host are, and overall just really insane people. They could probably handle whatever Chase had just brought into their lives.

They could… but some people couldn’t.

“I need your phone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is fairly short but I am REELING today dw my friend gave me a summary of what we know about jse and it's fitting rather nicely with my storyline for them so this is going nicely again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> udKLEwldSXZNKg==#KIB/2KHxh5xps3xcCv6/JFzLMc3OTWcjz2WgT7f2ly2LJCcxVEe0gzSulRZwXSipA==

DNK9dqJ/t1kuzg==#DeEjuKlVZ1k6/V3YTDFpYhjiTF39Vc7jJ1TwUw2yScIp/iFAEG4GjHzI+GJj5Z7eTMrYTbnT9RG6O1TZGd0GyC3RcXAW6VEQx662KR2UZcROnSvEBC1xjPemSuHlYavrFi5xTAxeyIjXnKw9EfZNsLhZ6aI7Mi22pFldcH5t1tg4ZAeHn9JH8psgZEM6r5VG6/ShQ2RBmiAy8eVYXpSXi507PUgJK5sxZclZ0uHLIt2B3D1NQNkg12/3TeCWH4AY7JMp8sk9Qtzjqr/b3ia2J8=

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MZUIaSNsCJ12xQ==#HGp95U2WKYujnWhlOkAZASHfwnTlQuIlApR2LX3cTXlpBpHN0N+kCrijN7CTwaacTscwA10nVzbaxyR59VLEsAgo/BQ8jvs7hVXL5uSqC4KeV9LS3miDa6Dawx3F+hstz3KXxW6sSZ/6KGfXkfz1R3EK38r8pQWduBcOwmcEV9srSxls7rG0TJ8316yrYHy+A==


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase has a talk. Bing has a talk. Lots of talking happens.

Chase had made his calls.

None of them had picked up.

He feels like he should be pissed about that. This was important, for fuck’s sake. He wasn’t going to have his kids and friends potentially hurt by whatever he did. 

God, what did he do?

He’s made it to the second floor balcony again. He couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed, he just sighed and sat down, pressing his head against the bars and looking at the ground below. Maybe fresh air could help him remember what the hell happened.

He didn’t feel like he was losing memories. He felt… normal. Depressed, hungry but not in the mood to eat, kind of itchy. Totally normal. But what Dr. Iplier said about him mentioning a forest and a guy with him in his car, he has to be forgetting things. 

And he didn’t mention being found suddenly at a parking garage. 

The only reason why he even believed Dr. Iplier was because he  _ swore  _ he had just appeared out of nowhere. He doesn’t even think he knows that place where Bing found him. Now that his brain isn’t completely fried, he realizes he should probably try to find his car and get his things before he loses them both.

“Dr. Iplier informed me of what happened,” Chase jumped and swore. He twisted around to see Dark standing beside him on the balcony. They had their arms folded behind their back, staring at the ground below in distrust. “Memory problems caused by pissing off some evil force?”

Chase snorted, relaxing again and turning back to the garden. “Apparently.”

“Nothing we haven’t seen before.” they said. There was a moment of silence, just the two of them breathing in the cool air of October. Dark didn’t seem calmer getting fresh air. They never seemed relaxed to Chase, but Bing kept insisting that Dark was actually a really cool dude. Maybe it was just having a stranger in their house that made Dark tense every time he saw them.

“Should I worry about being here?” Dark looked at him carefully. “I mean, Doc said I was safer here than on my own, but if I’m putting you guys in danger, I rather be alone.”

Dark didn’t say anything. Chase continued to ramble.

“You guys are tight here. You’re all like… a family,” Chase sighed and pulled his hair down in front of his face, once again wishing he had his hat. “Fuck, I don’t want get anyone in your family killed.”

“I don’t want you here either,” Dark was quick to reply this time. Chase looked up at them again. “You are a danger to my family and colleagues. I want you gone, and for you to fend for yourself.” Chase nodded. He made to stand, but Dark raised a hand to stop him. Lowering it when Chase sat back down, they continued. “But I need to uphold the trust of said family and colleagues. If I turn you away when you are in danger, I can lose the trust of some others that have proved dangerous to my household.

“You can stay here,” Dark finally turned to look at him, expression deadly serious. “If only because I believe we can handle it.”

Chase gave a small smile. “Thanks, man.”

“I am not a man.” 

And with that, Dark turned and left the balcony. 

Bing was the most stressed out he’s been in his entire short life. King wasn’t anywhere. Bing is sure King noticed a good chunk― shit, probably not a good choice of words― of his squirrels missing and now he can’t find him anywhere. With what’s happening right now with Chase, he was on edge over everything. For all he knows, King could be crucified against a tree too.

Fuck, probably shouldn’t go down that road.

Back on track, he paced up and down the library’s halls. The manor was confusing, but Host’s library was something else. It was bright and golden with light 90% of the time, but you could never see where you were going. The bookshelves almost made a maze of sorts, despite easily being able to see the walls of the room from every angle. Bing and Google avoided the library as much as they could. It hurt like shit trying to figure out how this place worked.

It was hurting his “brain” so much already that he sat down after a moment of trying to figure out the labyrinth, and pressed the heel of his palm against his head. 

“Host!” he shouted, dropping his head against the bookshelf behind him. “Hey! Come on! I’m not in the mood to try and find you, just―”

“Hello, Bing,” Bing jumped and swore. Host stood at the edge of the bookshelf― that Bing was  _ sure  _ was longer than just a few feet― with that constant, know-it-all smile. “What is the meaning of this visit?”

“Please, just drop the schtick right now. I just want to know where King is, I’m seriously worried, dude.” Bing’s instincts scolded him for not being friendly, but at the moment, his programming was more worried about the idea of losing someone in his charge than being friendly. 

“Very boring, but okay,” Host sat in front of him, posture dropped along with his usual act. He was more relaxed and human now. Bing wished he could see this version of Host more, everything would be so much easier if Host just acted naturally. “King is fine. Well, he’s not fine, he’s utterly heartbroken, but he’s not in any harm and won’t be for some time. He’s just mourning.”

Bing sighed. “Thank fucking god.”

“You’re welcome,” Bing laughed. Host smiled, showing his teeth and reminding Bing how weird it was to see a natural Host. “You’re worried about Chase too, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am, man,” Bing dropped his hand and rolled his head to face Host. With Host not narrating, he tilted his head as he heard Bing move and wasn’t quite facing him. He was probably getting uncomfortable being totally blind for a moment, but Bing still needed straight answers. “Sorry, man, for like, dragging this on. Just… can you tell me what’s going on with Chase?”

Host’s expression slowly dropped and he looked thoughtful. He pressed his lips together, teeth working at chapped skin and making it bleed softly. 

“I want to, Bing,” he began. “I don’t like seeing you troubled, nor do I like seeing King sad, but giving you information about the future makes me blind to what might happen. If I tell you what is going on, I won't be able to tell you if you can get out of it.”

Bing wished he could sigh for what was probably the millionth time in his life. Okay, maybe just the thousandths, but still, he was exhausted. “That’s fine, man. You can do your thing now, I’ll… I dunno, I’ll figure this out.”

Despite having permission to go back to his act, he was still silent. Bing looked at him oddly. Host still had that thoughtful look on his face. He was going to tell him something, Bing realized. Something about their future.

“Chase needs to call his doctor.” Host blurted out. Quickly, he got to his feet and disappeared with a whip of his coat. Bing blinked.

Okay…

Well, if Host said Chase needed to do something, then Chase was going to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA I'm getting there boys. 
> 
> Also I very much want to talk about natural Host but this is a comment on the end of a fanfic.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase is questioning his sanity

“Are you fucking serious?”

“Listen, dude,” Bing dragged his hands through his hair before dropping them in front of him and staring in space between them, like he was holding an invisible box that held all the answers. “ Host said you need to call your doctor, and when Host says to do something, you fucking do it, bro.”

“Why though?” Chase has long since left the balcony and was in the theater just below. It wasn’t a room many people seemed to go into and it was just dark enough for Chase to relax in. Bing, however, had burst in just a few seconds ago and started telling what to do with no explanation and tried running off again.

Key word, tried.

_ “Because, _ man.”

“I’m not calling Henrik to tell him this,” Chase laughed slightly, finding Bing’s frantic fidgeting and glancing at the exits to be morbidly funny. “He’s got enough on his plate and I doubt this will affect him. I barely even know the guy, he’s just my doctor.”

“Dude, we don’t know  _ who  _ this will affect and won’t affect,” Bing threw his hands up and started pacing. “We didn’t even know this thing existed until recently! Come on, man, you really think whatever this evil presence is picky?”

Chase stopped at that. He made sense there, but Chase almost felt… embarrassed to tell anyone else about this. He felt almost… pathetic. Shit, so much for relaxing alone.

“Fine, okay―” He couldn’t even finish because Bing clapped and let out a loud and relieved laugh. 

“Okay, great. You do that and I need to head out to the forest for awhile.” Before Chase could object― bring up the fact that he still doesn’t have his phone  _ or  _ Henrik’s number― Bing exited the room in a rush. Fine, Chase could probably look for Dr. Iplier again and ask for his phone. Hopefully he’s not being a bother.

Chase barely got a chance to fully leave the room before it happened. A loud  _ pop  _ exploded in his ears and he was taken aback. He blinked, hand coming up to his head when he started to feel a sharp ache. The ringing started to get louder and more painful, before long, both of Chase’s hands were coming up and trying to stop it. 

It felt like his brain was burning inside his skull.

It didn’t stop until he felt hands join his and the deafening ringing stopped. He opened his eyes that he doesn’t remember closing and saw straight through the person in front of him. Chase could hear them asking him if he’s okay, but he was still in shock over what just happened. He didn’t even know what just happened.

“Chase. Chase,” finally, he focused on whoever was talking to him. It was one of the Jims, seems like the one with the camera, considering he was pointing a shitty video camera in his face. “Hey, are you alright? Are you there?”

“Fine,” Chase blurted out. He sucked in a harsh breath and focused his eyes on the Jim. “I’m fine. Fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.” Chase laughed at that.

“I’ll  _ be _ fine,” Chase said instead. Fine sounded weird now. Maybe he should stop saying fine. Nothing about this situation was fine. “Can I borrow one of your phones?”

“Sure…” the Jim without the camera and standing behind his brother― how the fuck do they address them?― crouched down and handed over his phone. Chase let out a croaked ‘thanks’ and punched in Henrik’s number. It started ringing and just the sound of it made him wince.

_ “Hello? Henrik Schneeplestein phone?” _

“Hey, uh,” Chase searched his brian for something to say. How do you say  _ ‘hey, this blind prophet told me to call you because I’m being hunted by some evil force of nature; so how are you?’  _ “I, uh―”

_ “Chase?”  _ Henrik questioned. There was soft beeping on the other side. Shit, he caught him at work.  _ “Are you alright? You don’t sound good.” _

“That’s a nice way to put it,” Chase laughed quietly that slowly got louder. He stopped suddenly, swallowing a fit of hysterical laughter. Fuck if Henrik was going to listen to him if he sounded fucking insane. “Uh, shit, this probably isn’t a good thing to tell you over the phone. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know if we should talk in person, though.”

_ “I can barely hear you. What’s going on?”  _

He frowned and pulled the phone away from his ear. The reception was fine and Chase could hear him just fine. He looked up at the twins. “Is there something wrong with your phone?”

The Jims looked equally as confused and shook their heads. Chase brought the phone back to his ear. 

“Henrik, what do you mean?” he asked.

_ “It’s all static. Where are you? You didn’t visit this morning.” _

“I know, I’m at a friend’s house,” he hesitated for a moment, debating on if he should really say this. It wouldn’t hurt to tell Henrik the full story, but it was still… embarrassing. “I got evicted last night.”

_ “Oh… I’m sorry, Chase―” _

“It’s fine, no,” Chase swallowed again and shifted. Fuck, okay maybe he could’ve left that out. “No, uh, that’s not why I’m calling actually.”

_ “Chase?”  _ Henrik cut his sentence a little short.  _ “You were going static again, I didn’t catch that last part.” _

“Well, uh, I’m calling to tell you―”

Chase was cut off again, but not by Henrik this time. No, the phone started to screech in his hands. He swore and dropped it, taking a few clumsy steps back and waving for the twins to do the same. The phone screen was a bright, neon green, flickering black lines on top of it. Sparks the same sickening color started to burst from the phone and it didn’t take long until the thing exploded in a pop of green fire.

“Holy shit,” Chase breathed. He stared at it for a couple more seconds before it registered in his brain that that thing’s on  _ fire.  _ “Shit, shit, Jim go get a uh, I dunno. Go get a fire extinguisher or―”

Chase didn’t get to finish as a loud  _ bang!  _ sounded and one of the Jims let out a shout, cowering behind the other. Chase looked up to see Wilford watching the phone with morbid curiosity, gun still smoking in his hands from where he held it steady. Dark was behind him and too was watching with curiosity, if a bit uninterested. 

“Funny,” Wilford stepped towards the phone, out of his partner’s grasp, and toed at it. “It looks like it’s bleeding.”

Chase shook his head in disbelief, but when he risked a look, Wilford was  _ disturbingly  _ right. The phone was  _ gushing  _ a dark liquid from the bullet hole, as well as seeping through cracks in the screen and any other part of the phone. The fire burned out thankfully, but this wasn’t anymore comforting.

“I’m so fucking dead.”

There was a knock on the door. 

Not exactly what Chase expected to happen after what just happened, but still scary enough to put him on edge. Especially when Dark themself tensed at the sound. 

Apparently, they don’t often have unannounced visitors.

Dark’s… shit, what did Bing call it? Those strange blue and red effects on them kept shuddering and the constant ringing got uncomfortably louder. See that seemed to put everyone else on edge too. Dark seemed to notice that and forced their red and blue selves to calm. They held up a hand, signalling for everyone to stay put while they walked towards the front doors.

No one stayed put and followed Dark.

They seemed to have expected that.

Another knock came as they made their way to the doors― Chase and the Jim twins staying safely behind Wilford― interrupted by Dark pulling open the doors. Immediately, Wilford ducked behind Dark making the other three scramble to follow him and pointed his gun at the visitor.

A short young man wearing a cat mask and a silly cape stood unphased in the doorway, an equally cat-like smile on his face.

Chase almost laughed. Was it Halloween already?

“Who are you?” Dark, however, didn’t seem to think the man was as non-threatening as he looked. They raised their chin, the cat man copying them and smiling wider when their eyes twitched in annoyance. “Why are you here?”

“Call me Magnificent for now. Sounds cool. And, not to mention true.” Chase was somewhat surprised at the Irish accent. 

Odd… probably just a coincidence… 

Magnificent met his eye and Chase froze. His eyes were the brightest green Chase has ever seen, inhuman green. Neon fucking green. 

Just like the phone’s screen and the fire before it died.

“And I came here for him,” Magnificent looked back to Dark and tilted his head. “If you’d let me, your highness, I can take him off your hands.”

Dark’s lips twisted in a scowl and they gripped the door handle tighter. Their blue and red selves made another appearance, trying to scare the man off with the anomaly that was Dark. Unfortunately, Magnificent only seemed more entertained by their little light show. 

“Anti told me you can do a little―” he splayed his hands out in front of his and moved them side to side with his head, intimating Dark. “Thing with your powers. Pretty cool in person, gotta say?”

“Anti?” Wilford questioned, pulling the gun away so it pointed towards the ceiling and turning his head so he was looking at his partners face. Dark didn’t turn to look at him. “Who’s Anti?”

“A friend,” Magnificent stated, hands slipping into his jeans and leaning to the side to address Chase. “He’s very interested in you.”

“What?” Chase balked, stepping from behind Wilford. “Who’s Anti? Is he the one that’s been stalking me?”

“No, that’s me,” he said. “Anti doesn’t leave his domain unless he really needs to.”

“Can’t leave,” Dark corrected, arm coming out in front of Chase so he didn’t think of moving any further. “Anti needs a henchman to do anything. He’s nothing but a child.”

“That's true, he would be lost without me―”

“But what does this have to do with me?” Chase was starting to get fed up with not knowing anything that was going on. Dark apparently knowing this ‘Anti’ guy was just getting him more riled up. “Who the fuck is Anti?”

“Yeah, I’m with Chancy, here,” Wilford gestured his gun lazily in his direction. The gun stopped him from correcting him. “Who’s Anti and why do you know him and I don’t? Is this another one I should know?”

“No,” Dark turned his head towards Wilford, but his eyes stayed on Magnificent. “Anti isn’t anyone you should be concerned with. He’s just a pest.”

“He’s more of a pest when he doesn’t get what he wants, so if Chase would just come with me and we’ll get out of your hair.” Magnificent did some sort of mock bow at that. If he kept teasing Dark like this, he was going to be way over his head. Chase was getting awfully curious about this.

“I’ll―”

“No,” Dark turned their head fully to glare at Chase. “You are not going with him. Anti is not someone you want to be involved with.”

“I’m already involved,” Chase snapped. He backed off when Dark’s glare turned a little more poisonous, but not fully backed down. “Come on, man. You know I’m already in too deep with this shit, might as well see why. And you already said you want me gone.”

“You have no protection, Chase,” Dark insisted. “I am not letting you get killed by this idiot and have myself be the blame for it.”

“No one’s going to blame you! I’m deciding this myself,” Chase stepped out from the door and Dark looked at him like it was an act of betrayal. “I thought you said you could handle this? If Anti really is just some idiot, why are you so scared of me facing him, hm?”

Shit. He probably went too far there.

“Alright,” Fuck. “If you are so confident that you can handle Anti better than I can― alone― then go.”

“Darky―”

“No, no,” Dark turned back into the house and shooed Wilford and the Jims back. “If he wants to end up like a gutted puppet like that fool in the mask over there, then he can do it. It’s not my responsibility.”

Fuck.  _ Fuck,  _ he just got himself killed. “Wait, I mean―”

Dark slammed the doors behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of things and nothing happens in this chapter at the same time. Next chapter will be getting into like the actual plot.


End file.
